Most sellers waste months on people who were never going to buy. Verified buyers, financials that only open after an NDA, and a closing process that does not fall apart at the end.
Start with the valuation calculator to get a range, then decide whether the number is one you would accept. If it is not, you have found out early enough to change it.
Three years of tax returns, a clean profit and loss, and a customer list. Buyers ask for the same things every time, and having them ready is what separates a four-month sale from a nine-month one.
The public listing shows the industry, region, revenue and earnings. Your name, your address and your customer list are not in it. Contact details are stripped automatically before it goes live.
You see a buyer's verification status before you engage. Financials release only after they sign an NDA, so tyre-kickers never see your numbers.
Offer, purchase agreement and closing all run in the deal room. Funds sit in escrow until both sides confirm, so the last step is not a leap of faith.
Identity checked, and many with proof of funds on file. You know who you are talking to before you say anything.
Nothing sensitive is public. Financials open only after an NDA that is signed in the browser.
Diligence runs as a checklist both sides can see, so nobody is waiting on a document nobody asked for out loud.
A traditional broker takes 8% to 12% of the sale. Listing here does not.
Most small businesses sell for 2 to 4 times seller's discretionary earnings. SDE is your net profit with your own salary, personal expenses and one-off costs added back. Where you land inside that range depends almost entirely on how much of the profit survives you leaving. A business that runs without the owner sells at the top of the range. One that is the owner sells at the bottom, if at all.
The same five things, every time. Having these ready before you list is the cheapest thing you can do to shorten the sale:
Six to twelve months is normal, and the seller controls more of that than they think. Time on market depends on price and on how ready your records are. The deals that close in four months are the ones where the buyer asked for a document and received it that afternoon. The ones that take a year are usually waiting on the seller.
By keeping identifying details out of the listing entirely. The listing describes the business, not the company: industry, region, revenue, earnings. No name, no address, no phone number, and contact details are stripped from the copy automatically. Buyers reach you through the platform, and the detailed information only opens after they have signed an NDA.
Reducing how much the business depends on you, done at least a year before you sell. Buyers pay for earnings that will still be there after you leave. Promoting a manager, documenting how the work gets done, spreading revenue across more customers and cleaning up the books all move the multiple. None of them work as a last-minute fix, because a buyer wants to see the change reflected in results they can verify.
What to fix in the two years before you sell, the documents buyers ask for first, and how the offer-to-close sequence actually runs. One email, no course.
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A broker earns their 8% to 12% when they bring buyers you could not reach and manage a process you do not want to run. If your business is straightforward and you are willing to answer questions promptly, listing directly keeps that money in your pocket. You can also bring your own broker into the deal room here.
Yes, and it is in your interest to do it early. Material problems surface in diligence anyway, and a buyer who finds one you did not disclose usually walks or reprices the whole deal. Disclosed up front, most problems just become a negotiation.
It depends on the structure. An asset sale and a stock sale are taxed differently, and how the purchase price is allocated across asset classes changes the bill significantly for both sides. Bring a tax advisor in before you agree to a structure, not after.
Yes, but it sells on assets rather than earnings, which usually means a much lower price. If the business is close to break-even, a year spent getting it clearly profitable is normally worth far more than it costs.
Seller financing means you take part of the price as a note paid over time. It widens your buyer pool substantially and can raise the total price, and SBA lenders often prefer to see it because it signals you believe in what you are selling. The trade-off is that you carry some risk until it is paid.